I thought I had settled on a plan, although I never quite was happy with it. Anyway, this is where we left it.
I had two problems with it. The operators space was small and there was a lot to do in that area. Maybe 3 people would have shared the area. Also, when leaving Rock Ridge, you go down into a tunnel to get over the mountains to Virginia City which is up.
The limiting factor is I was trying to save Tater Mountain from the original Rock Ridge and Train City.
Rock Ridge and Train City II–Revision 20
You can’t tell from the drawing, but this is a very vertical layout. It climbs 20" from point B to point C. There are high canyon walls and tall trees 18-30". There are lots of trestles. Except for the passing sidings/runarounds/ A/D tracks which are flat, mainline grade is 2%. The long logging switchbacks are 4%.
Detail
There is not nearly as much switching in Version 20 as there was in Version 19, but there are more varied types of trains. A person bringing down logs will not interfere with a person switching Rock Ridge who will not interfere with the person working Train City Yard and Industries.
Version 19 was mostly town, Version 20 will tall trees on every wall. This fits my dream of a tall trees/small steam layout, where Version 19 only hinted at it.
A stream runs along in front of the lower track from B to Train City. Water shed from Rock Ridge flows under the track and along the front track to the canyon where it drops into the creek by the lower track.
There is a long tunnel from lower left to upper right A to A, basically from Train City to Rock Ridge.
Could you flip the saw mill complex 180 degrees and put the entrance switch next to the large “dot” at the bottom and the back of the mill up near D?
Take the brewery tracks and straighten them out so they end up stubbing under the “ST” in “Stock Yard”. That will let you move the switch to #1 on the other side of the brewery switch, maybe curve it towards the yard, putting the brewery between the refinery and brewery tracks and the refinery on the “bottom” of the track.
Or, move the brewery to the inside and the small industry to the outsdie, then put the refinery switch in the curve (where the road crossing is) and flip it so its a switchback. The refinery building would be in the same place, maybe flipped end for end.
It is a difficult to understand this layout without knowing better what is going on within the helix room. A track schematic would be helpful because I’m having difficulty figuring out the layout’s overall scheme. Nevertheless, it seems to me that point B is the connection with the outside world and A-A is the connection between the two modeled towns. I don’t know what you intend as to what the switchback extension to the helix room is or where it ends up. Is it to represent an end-of-the-line town? What does the continuation of the mainline track past Rock Ridge beyond the switchback junction into the helix room represent and where does it end up?
I don’t understand the need for such a large vertical separation. And do you want to have trains spending most of their transit time hidden in the helix room while traveling from one level to another.
The aisle appears quite narrow (about 2 feet?) and will be insufficient for two people to pass each other unless one leaves the room… Am I interpreting the plan correctly?
Access for occasional maintenance of the turnouts to turnouts serving the sawmill complex can be readily solved with a covered/sceniced access hatch in the town area. The real problem is that the tightly-curved track leads will create havoc with coupler alignment for coupling and uncoupling, resulting in the need for a permanent opening in the town area so the sawmill can be switched.
I don’t see the utility of the extremely short runaround track in the yard. If such a track is needed (as for a arrival/departure of trains), the runaround track should be on the longest yard track, not the shortest.
The plan offers a lot of switching opportunities and should keep two operators busy.
Make sure any locos you plan on running can work the grades you have planned. I built a test track not only to test locos after repair or servicing but to test grades. You may think your small steamers can handle a 4% grade but it’s better to find out now before you commit to it. Hook up a gondola to the loco with weight in it duplicating the estimated load you’ll pull to be certain. I have a 4-6-0 brass loco that works all day pulling cars 10 cars on a 0% grade. But you put her (by herself) on anything above 2% and it’s wheel slippage time…and that’s with a Sagami can motor. (and there’s no room for weight in the boiler [sigh] )
The steep grades on the switchback line are a great excuse for acquiring one or more geared locomotives. Also, the trains on the line will be quite short as their length is limited by the length of the switchback leads.
A couple of things, Chip. It seems quite “directional” in that it strongly favours one direction of work/travel, and I don’t think you have managed to improve a rather serious drawback to overall fun…space to move around it and manage it. The operating pit is, in a word, teensy.
The staging at the end of the logging line represents a logging camp, etc. I didn’t have room to model that camp so I represent it off layout.
The helix room represents all points north and all points south. It is the main staging area.
The vertical separation has to do with an Allenesque 3-d asceticism. Mountains give it reason and trains climb mountains.
During an ops session the helix (staging) is the final destination. During a railfan session I just set 3 - 4 trains going and that takes care of the off-layout time.
The narrow point is 2 ft. The operating area is 30" though. The person working the yard would not be in the same area as someone working Rock Ridge. However, through trains and the logging Shay would require the person to pass in the larger area.
The timber mill is dedicated to making reinforcing timbers for the mine. The saw mills main contract is railroad ties, but they use the cut off pieces to make construction lumber to sell to the Train City residents.
If I expand the layout, I will have a logging camp, etc. You are right though, the staging implies the logging operation.
Yes, the Southern Pacific and Northwestern Pacific.
I think I did improve the pit. I took the Train City yardmaster out of it completely. Now there are only 1-2 max in there.
As for the bidirectional. Yes it does, but the railroad runs each way. North to South will have runaround moves. The turntable at Rock Ridge is there to turn engines, the crew coming up from Train City to get logs or ore, must turn drop empties, turn their engine, pick up their cargo and head back, so they get both directions in one run. The Shay coming down the hill with logs does the same thing, without turning the engine around.
Other than customer, there really is no difference between the two processes. In fact the “timber mill” can be less sophisticated than the “sawmill”. Ties have to be specific types of wood and cut to very specific dimensions, lumber even more so. Mine props can be really rough, they don’t even need to be fully square or entirely de-barked. The only real requirement is a certain minimum size and a set length. In the Pennsylvania mills, the big timber went to ties and lumber and the smaller timber went to mine props. If a tree was too small to cut it for lumber it could be a mine prop.
Guess the one thing that gets my attention is that one very long length of tunnel track buried up against the walls. That section that runs from tunnel entrances A to A. I would hope that your intention is to employ some form of hard shell scenery, leaving a generous open space beneath. That is the only way I can see which will allow you to gain access from underneath the layout to any point on that portion of the line, to clear the inevitable derailment or stalled train.
The geology in California is much different than that of Pennsylvania, and the area that Chip is modeling–that of the Coast Range–is that of a very young mountain range, in fact still being formed by Tectonic movement, and one that has actually not really solidified into the older rock that is found either in the Appalachians or even the neighboring Sierra Nevada (itself, a much younger range than Eastern topography). Out here, mining timbers were generally very well milled, very sturdy and actually much thicker than railroad ties. In fact, one of the reasons that California forests were cut over so thoroughly in the 19th and early 20th century was to supply sturdy timber for the gold and silver mines in the area. Oddly enough, the best timber was reserved for the mines, the secondary timber was milled for railroad ties.
On first pass, there are some questionable areas. A diagram with elevation markings would be more helpful than simply having grades indicated. Plus, the drawing doesn’t indicate whether the grade is up or down. Lacking this information it is difficult to offer specific feedback.
As previously stated elevations would be a great help or and arrow at start and end of grades.
Being your modeling my neck of the woods I think you should loose those long tunnels for a series of shorter ones, the main reason is that logging railroads avoided them like the plague, very short one’s create interest, and you have the possability of some really niftey stacked logging trackwork along the back wall and the possability of new or older abanden log landings along the route (even on grade) as well as steam donkey trails and cable runs disapearing into the forrest. Even your swich back could swing over/under the main line twice, making for some interesting trestle and ravine work.
